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发帖数: 2018 | 1 http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-medias-flynn-sanity-1512171386?cx_testId=17&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=0&cx_tag=related?cx_campaign=poptart&mod=cx_poptart#cxrecs_s
最佳评论：
“Once again a federal prosecutor spends millions and ends up prosecuting a
guy for the equivalent of not having his shoes shined. No underlying crime,
but “lying” about no crime. Hello Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and several of her staff committed multiple
felonies with top secret documents, lied endlessly about it, and...nothing.
Lois Lerner, John Koskinen and others at IRS committed multiple felonies,
lied about it or destroyed evidence and....nothing. And of course, what was
the Obama administration doing in the first place spying on Flynn and others
in the Trump campaign?
No matter, because our nakedly corrupt government and shadow government must
focus on the foiling the man who wants to take away their power and the
voters who elected him to do so.”
The Media’s Flynn-sanity
Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn on Friday pleaded guilty to lying about a non-
crime. Even Adam Schiff, the House Democrat most determined to ride the
Russia collusion story to bigger and better things, acknowledged that
conferring with a representative of Russia about the incoming administration
’s Russia policy is not illegal or improper.
These discussions concerned a United Nations Security Council vote on Israel
(in effect the Trump team was asking Moscow for a favor on behalf of a U.S.
ally, Israel). The discussions concerned Russia’s response to President
Obama’s lame-duck sanctions for Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
Such talks, we learn from Robert Mueller’s investigation, were directed by
a “very senior member” of the transition team. Why shouldn’t that be
President-elect Donald Trump or somebody directly conversant with his views
—a k a Jared Kushner ? Voters may remember Mr. Trump saying during the
campaign that he wanted improved relations with Russia. He would be doing
nothing illegal here.
Then why make Mr. Flynn plead guilty to a crime related to a non-crime,
unless Bob Mueller thinks he’s enlisting Mr. Flynn’s cooperation in
pursuit of real crimes? Well, Mr. Mueller’s job is to get to the bottom of
the Russia question, and it doesn’t help to have people lying about even
things that are non-crimes. What’s more, as Mr. Flynn would have known
better than most, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was a prime target for U
.S. surveillance. American voters will remember that Obama officials
illegally leaked contents of some of these conversations to the press during
the transition. Lying about these very same conversations to the FBI wouldn
’t seem to have made much sense for Mr. Flynn. But if a key witness and
former high-ranking official persists in a disproven and unnecessary lie,
how do you not charge him?
Let’s recall a couple of things. For president, the American people elected
a reality TV star and brand manager who came with a bundle of impulses but
not deep knowledge of anything other than building large structures.
His plans/hopes with respect to Russia may have been unrealistic, but an
incoming administration is elected to follow its own policies, not those of
its predecessor. Second, unless he was completely unconversant with
political reality, Mr. Trump understood by then that Democrats had settled
on a story of Russia collusion to excuse Hillary Clinton’s loss and to
discredit the incoming president.
Unfortunately, what we learned on Friday about all this was microscopic in
relation to the magnitude of air time devoted to hyping events. The scandal
has reached “inside the gates of the White House,” blared multiple news
outlets. Uh-huh. Mr. Flynn worked there for 24 days, and none of this is
evidence of any presumed conspiracy between the Kremlin and the campaign to
put Mr. Trump in the White House. Wasn’t that the original question? The
crime the media are trying to make out of these events is the crime of
having diplomatic relations with Russia.
The talents that outfit somebody to be on TV are not necessarily talents
that lend themselves to instantaneous dissection of breaking news.
Inevitably, time is filled up with prejudices and tropes because, you know,
time must be filled up.
This is sad but par for the course. Take James Comey, the retired FBI head.
He could fill in a great deal of important information. He knows a lot about
a lot of things that would be useful to hear, including about the Trump
dossier and a Russian role in sparking his intervention in the Hillary
Clinton email matter. Instead of shedding light, he drops Bible verses on
Twitter. A man who knows so many vital truths and won’t tell them might do
better to say nothing at all.
Anything is possible, including some conspiratorial quid pro quo between
somebody in the Trump campaign and somebody representing Vladimir Putin. If
Mr. Putin really wanted Mr. Trump’s election, then the two were certainly
working toward compatible ends—at least to the extent that Mr. Trump, in
some part of his brain, really did want to be president. When it comes to
working toward compatible ends, though, this also appears to be true of
Russian intelligence and the Clinton campaign and, quite possibly, Russian
intelligence and the FBI in some instances.
At the same time, we would be stupid not to understand that other countries
have a stake in the outcome of our elections and, by omission or commission,
try to advance their interests. This is reality. After the Trump election,
the direction of causation in the ensuing Russia scandal in my judgment
seems fairly clear. The media and bureaucracy reject Mr. Trump not because
they got wind of Russia. They were determined to reject Mr. Trump and Russia
was handy. |
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